Recently, I spoke to you about Jesus sending the Spirit on a
mission. I told you about the Spirit's work in dealing with the world. He has
been sent to convict the world so that it would be converted. This morning
we're going to take a look at another aspect of the Spirit's mission. Jesus has
sent the Spirit to deal not only with the world but also with the Church.
Listen to what Jesus said.
I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will
guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but
whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are
to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to
you. All that the Father has is mine;
therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Jesus is speaking with His apostles. He tells them that the
Spirit is going to guide them into the truth, into all the truth. Let's take
that apart to see what it had to say to them and also what it has to say to us.
Let's start with this. You need to understand that Jesus
isn't telling these men that they will know everything there is to know. There
were plenty of facts about history and biology and other things that these men would
know nothing about. But what they would come to know is what lies behind all
those facts. They are going to know about Jesus. When a person begins to
understand who Jesus is and what He has come to do, that person begins to
understand reality. He begins to understand how life works, all of life. It is
Jesus who makes sense of all that is, and that includes history and biology and
everything else. The Spirit is going to guide these men into that truth, the
truth about Jesus. As that happens, the Spirit is fulfilling His calling to
glorify Jesus.
Now, let’s look at a part of what Spirit will do with these
men. The Spirit is going to use them to finish writing the Bible. As a result
of what the Spirit does with these men, we're going to have the Gospels and the
Letters added to the Law and the Prophets. The Spirit will guide them into the
truth so that we get a completed Bible.
And how is the Spirit going to do that? It's not going to be
like much of what we have in, say, Isaiah. Every time you read, 'Thus says the
Lord', you know what happened. God told Isaiah some things, and then He told
him to report all of that to the people. And that's what Isaiah did. 'Thus says
the Lord...' But that's not what happened in the writing of the Gospels and the
Letters. This was more indirect. These writings are the result of the
reflections of their authors on these two questions: Who is this Jesus, and
what did He come to do? We are going through Peter's first letter in the Bible
studies. God didn't tell Peter some things and then tell him to report those
things to the people he was writing to. Instead, Peter thought about those two
questions, prayed about those questions, discussed those questions with others.
And he was doing this thinking, praying and discussing in the context of what
he had read in the Law and the Prophets. So, when he heard about these
Christians who were having a hard time and wrote to them, what came out was the
fruit of all of that thinking and praying and discussing. But Peter wasn't
doing this all alone. Working behind the scenes, helping Peter think through
all these things, was the Spirit. The Spirit was guiding him into the truth.
That's how we got what we call 1 Peter. This is sort of thing that Jesus had in
mind when He sent the Spirit to guide these men into all the truth. The Spirit
was working behind the scenes as these men worked to answer those two
questions: Who is this Jesus, and what did He come to do?
You'll remember from my earlier sermon about the mission of
the Spirit that there was an aspect of what Jesus said that applied to the
apostles and there was an aspect that applies to you. It's the same with this
text. So, to get at the part that applies to you, let me pose a question. Is
the Spirit done with His work of guiding into all the truth? You have to be
careful with that question. You can take it in a couple of ways. Here's one: Is
the Spirit done guiding people into the truth so that the Bible is now
completed? The answer to that is a clear, 'Yes'. We have a finished Bible. We
have all the information that we need when it comes to who Jesus is and what He
has come to do. There is no need for more to be added to it. That aspect of the
Spirit's mission is done.
But there is another way to take my question. Is the Spirit
done with His work of guiding into all the truth so that we completely grasp
who Jesus is and what He has come to do? The answer to that is also clear.
'No.' There is work that still needs to be done. We need to do some more
reflecting on those questions. We do that in some ways that are the same as
Peter, and in some ways that are different. So, like Peter, we think and pray
and discuss, and we do that in the context of what we read in the Bible. But
there are differences. What's different are the issues that we face. So, here's
something that was a big issue for Peter and those with him. 'We know that
Jesus has come to rescue people. Does that include Gentiles?' Remember that up
to that point God's dealings had been pretty much limited to Israel. Had that
changed? So, the leaders of the Church got together and thought and prayed and
discussed and did all of that in the context of their Bibles, and they came up
with an answer that we all accept. You can read about this in Acts 15.
The issues that you face are not large issues like that one.
But you still need to answer them in the same way that Peter and the others did
by thinking and praying and discussing them in the context of what you’ve read
in your Bibles. One way that you are doing is through the small groups we have.
So, there is still more for the Spirit to do, and He is doing it.
Now, it's important that you know that being guided by the
Spirit into all truth is more than just gaining correct information. Listen to
something John wrote.
If we say we have fellowship with
him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth.
Truth is to be known so that it can be done. A Christian
hasn’t been fully guided into some aspect of the truth until he or she puts it into
practice. The point of all the thinking and praying and discussing is that you
do something with what you come to understand about Jesus. That is what the
Spirit is working toward. It is when the Church does the truth, when she
puts the truth about Jesus into practice, that He is glorified. So, all the
thinking and praying and discussing needs to result in doing. We need to be
careful here. It is easy for people like us to spend a lot of time on knowing
without spending enough time on doing.
Now, I want to take all of what I have said and relate it to
something that just happened. Today, we received Francis into membership. And
as is our custom we heard Francis respond to the five membership questions. I
want to relate what I have said to the third question.
Do you now resolve and promise, in
humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live
as becomes the followers of Christ?
If you are a member of this church you have made that
promise. But I hope that you can see what it will take to keep that promise.
You need to understand some important things about this Christ whom you are
pledged to follow. If you are going to 'endeavor to live as becomes the
followers of Christ' you will need to think and pray and discuss who Jesus is
and what He has come to do. Then, as you are guided into a greater
understanding about the who and what of Jesus, you're going to need to do
something with it. You will need to put it into practice. So, you will need to
apply what you learn to your marriage, to your job, to what you expect from
your life, to how you relate to your kids - or for you kids, how you relate to
your parents - and to all the rest of life. You need to do this if you are
going to keep that promise.
I think that you should be encouraged in this. When you consider
that third question what is the response of your heart? I know most of you
pretty well, and I know that your response is something like, 'Yes, that's what
I want to do. I want to live as becomes a follower of Jesus.' And you want that
because you do think and pray and discuss. And you know that that means more
than just filling your head with information. You are working to do the truth
as well as know it. You're doing well.
And I think that you can be very optimistic in this. We do not
do this alone. Jesus has sent His Spirit. He is guiding us into the truth. So,
we can expect the Spirit to do much in us as a church. Oh, there will still be
much that we won't know by the time that we pass from the scene. But there will
also be much that we will know and are putting into practice. The Spirit will
succeed in His mission among us. He will glorify Jesus through us. Because of
the Spirit, we will make Jesus look as good as He really is. And what a
testimony that will be first to the children here and then to the world around
us.